OXFORD MATHEMATICS INTERVIEW THREAD

Who /mathmo/ here?

This week, the top 40% of mathematicians who applied to the University of Oxford will be interviewed by leading tutors (possibly even professors) in the field. About 1 in 3 will be offered a place at one of the most prestigious universities in the world.

Now that I'm done shilling, who /one of the 40%/ here? I frankly didn't expect to get invited.

How did you prep? What college called you? Are you gonna get BTFO this week?

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you don't get to call yourself a mathmo unless you study at cambridge

That's what I was thinking too. What are they called at Oxford? I don't think they have any cool names like that.

It's too late at night for you to be British. Are you a American too? I thought I did well on the MAT, but I got a terse rejection from Pembroke. Were you the one who applied to Balliol?

Someone please comfort me. Getting rejected has made me suicidal

>mathematics
>interviewed
don't attend the interview, not worth it. just do mathematics instead.

How would I know if I ran into one of you?

You'd see stimmimg and hear autistic self-mumblings.

You are not good enough. You lost your opprotunity.

Dick

I'll be wearing a Spider-Man watch ironically and a black parka, lel

What are you applying to? I wanted to go for cs in Orbridge, but dodged the bullet and went for math degree in another uni.

Merton math senpai

I'm curious, how does one get selected?

This, besides that is a liberal arts pejorative for mathematics students.

>I thought I did well on the MAT, but I got a terse rejection from Pembroke.
What do you think tripped you up, user?

What made you undesirable?

>t. Grigori Perelman

Autism is your secret superpower, anons.

>mathematicians who applied to the University of Oxford
Applied for what, professorships?

To become a student, kemosabe.

i dunno I applied only to the US

no mathmos call each other mathmos way more than people studying arts subjects.

Maths students at cambridge already know that they're the most intelligent people at the university they're perfectly happy being a little self-deprecating.
They almost feel a little embarrassed and self-conscious because they're so much more intelligent than nearly all of the arts students.

So why do you losers call yourselves mathematicians then? Have you published anything original in mathematics? Do you apply mathematics in some other domain for a living? No?
Then you aren't mathematicians.
Way to confuse people.

That's quite amusing really, re-appropriating what was originally intended by the liberal arts students to be an insult, into a battering ram to beat the unintelligent with. A true siege of the mind.

>mathmos

If you're a math pro you would have hedged your bets, so to speak, and applied to multiple prestigious programs.

>multiple prestigious programs
In the same institution? Is that even possible?

It's not, he's either memeing or braindead.

Should I reapply to Cambridge? I hate Oxford's gimmicky exam, but I know that the STEP is a quite difficult exam. (I also think that Oxford is superior, but at this point, I just want to get into Oxbridge before I jump off a building.)

I'll also be at Merton Oxford for the physics interview. I prepared by watching the mock interviews, talking to phys students from previous years and doing a simulation interview with my phys teacher.

Balliol here. Got rejected too unfortunately. Obviously quite disappointed, especially since I had already achieved their typical offer, but I'm not nearly as gutted as I thought I would be. Good luck to anyone who has their interview coming up!

Why does the british education system seem so retarded from the outside?

What part of it do you find retarded?

I had a Cambridge one the other day

Oxford or Cambridge for math? It seems like Oxfords test is easier, but Cambridge is pretty cool also.
Also good luck with the interviews my dudes.

Chemistry applicant at Lincoln here

it's /comfy/

...

He just seems like such an interesting guy, I'd very much like to talk to him if he wasn't so awfully autistic and probably wouldn't even open the door.

>(I also think that Oxford is superior, but at this point, I just want to get into Oxbridge before I jump off a building.)
Me too, user, me too.
As for superiority, I know for a fact that in the mathematics league table for 2017, Oxford was ranked 1st in the country and in the Time's league tables, ranked as 1st in the world (somewhat bias, I think).

How good do you reckon your odds are?

American here. Are the interviews you guys always talk about for after 12th grade, or for after that?

Bad phrasing, I meant are they for admissions to undergrad or graduate programs?

me too user. fuck those pricks

The interviews they're talking about are the undergrad ones. They usually take place in your last year of secondary school

Pretty good. bout 60%-70% ish I think.

What's your regime?

Why do you guys give so much of a fuck about whether the uni you go to is top 2 for undergrad?

wordnik.com/words/regime
I take it you're not referring to a form of government?

>wordnik.com/words/regime
>A regulated system, as of diet and exercise; a regimen.
This one, user, this one.

I don't follow a diet and exercise is gay. as far as physics exercises go, physics Olympiad questions are always enjoyable.

Perfect, very detailed, truly a Coeus as he lives and breathes.

> exercise is gay
What did he mean by this

I got rejected for undergrad but got in for postgrad. It's possible lads, don't top yourselves

Really? For what course, and what suggestions would you give going with that route?

How, user?

same reason we call ourself for Veeky Forumsentists here

probably because if they are accepted in undergrad they will get good connections and will automatically recieve a spot for their masters or Phd if they wish to go that far

only homosexuals gets sweaty on purpose

not maths, physics. Honestly the course I did was from a good uni but probably much easier than Ox, from what I hear undergrads have a horrific time with workload.
Just make sure you work hard and get very good grades, like top 5-10% of your class maybe. Each year pester profs etc to try and get lab/work experience, and use this experience to make sure you have a solid internship for your penultimate year summer, because that's what your PhD/DPhil applications will be based on.

Anyone wanna go bridge on thursday?

So, for instance, for mathematics and physics double honours, go to somewhere like Exeter (still Russell Group) try for a 1st or 2:1 and then go into undergraduate at Oxford or Cambridge?

>undergraduate
I mean graduate, ffs.

yeah exactly, definitely try for a good first though. Technically for a DPhil at oxford you only need a 2:2 but obviously that's bullshit.
The most important thing is having strong grades and lots of research experience (not necessarily directly related). If you have that and can be confident at interview (i.e. not autistic like most maths/physics interviewees) then you will have a strong advantage.

>Go for the first
>Don't be an autism
Go it, thank you, user.

shit course even worse college

>ywn be able to do this
I HATE MY LIFE

How do I do well at interview?

Have fun at imperial

It’s so cute when you guys think you know how to write

>Is actually a BA in English literature
Speak for yourself.

No, we call them mathmos too.

Just remember that if you didn't get in, you're probably worthless and should kys. Jk, but slightly not jk.

>all these nerds ITT sweating over their careers

Truly an adorable sight to see

thats not at all what happend brainlet

Thanks for this advice user. How hard is it to get professors to give you research experience?

interviews should be over today.
how did they go anons?

Go on then, what DID happen? Mhm? Sources? Mhm? I didn't think so, show yourself out, BRAINLET!
*stomps standing on your throat*

Fucking horrible
Sweat so much it literally dripped off my forehear onto my sheet
I froze, it got really quiet and I just got up and left
Fuck Oxford, UCL here I come

sorry to hear that any nice questions?
also why not imperial?

also what college out of interest

get help pls user, small things like this shouldn't keep you down for long

I worked so hard just to get blown out before even getting an interview

god i hate my life

Same here user, but was your ultimate aim to get into Oxbridge? If it was, then may as well kys now, but it was most likely just an easy means to the ends that you want. Don't give up now, keep working hard.

I don't think calling a bunch of high school students mathematicians is correct in any way.

It absolutely was. I can't imagine living one life and not having gone to the best possible university during that one lifetime.

Well, I guess I can imagine it, since that's what happened. FML

was it undergrad or grad?

I'm gonna apply to Oxford this coming year. When SJC says on their website that they focus on the MAT and that they don't care too much about interview, what exactly do they mean?

He's talking about undergrad. Postgrad at Oxford isn't nearly as prestigious.

Yes, because we are all published scientists within our respective field, academics building their careers... right? Y'all aren't undergrads or anything, right?

I'm from the US but Cambridge is a better place for math research, not sure about their teaching though

Unfortunately, distinctly average (and I don't think that's going to be good enough). Extracted several free meals though, so it's not all bad

dw user you are genuinely saving yourself a lot of stress. The few friends i have at lodon unis seem infinitely happier.

What questions did they ask? I had to rigorously prove that e^x > 0 for all x

>undergrad
then who cares mate, just go to a decent uni and work hard.

Got interviewed there two years ago but hmu with your questions pls.

Because it is.

What questions did they ask you?

>>Is actually a BA in English literature

Thanks, nice to bear in mind

3 interviews, here's the general topic of each of the questions:
>binary numbers / rational points in [0,1] undergoing a transformation
>whether certain configurations of slide puzzles were solvable, 'inversions' of lists
>A and B flip a coin, C announces the number of heads and a random number from {0, 1, 2}, what can each figure out?

Had my Cambridge interview almost two weeks ago now, and I don't get told whether I have a place or not till 10th Jan

This is fucking killing me

anyone applying for grad admissions ?

>the top 40% of mathematicians who applied to the University of Oxford
i sure hope you aren't a kid who isn't even an undergraduate calling themselves a mathematician

Wow the UK system is such bullshit.

I need to know how to get into one of these school let alone get successful interview comments

What the fuck are you trying to say?? That sentence is indecipherable

Sorry, my intellect on literature and English is nothing compared to you guys

I had three interviews for maths and was quite speedy so lots of q's
There was one about f(x+y)=f(x)f(y)
One about sketching various three dimensional equations like z^2=x^2+y^2
The normal stuff, can't remember everything it was a while ago

>There was one about f(x+y)=f(x)f(y)
This one in particular sounds interesting. Do you remember the specifics?

>>binary numbers / rational points in [0,1] undergoing a transformation
>>'inversions' of lists
What the heck? They must have thought you were clever and gone hard-mode with you, because I'm not even sure what you mean by these.